How To Play Race Card Game

OBJECTIVE OF MILLE BORNES: Gain 5000 points while following the rules of the road.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2-6 Players, 4+ played in partnerships

Space Race is a card game based on finding synergies and constructing powerful combinations out of different abilities. There is no guaranteed winning strategy: players have to respond to an ever changing environment in order to identify the best course of development while competing with their opponents for the most interesting discoveries. In the SCR game, it is key to wait as long as possible for a yellow flag. Green flag pitting will usually result in loss of time off the lead draft and an inability to catch back up, especially late in the race. From the Driver Deck Pass Cards. There are four passing cards in the driver deck: Pass Inside, Pass Outside, Inside Advantage, and Pass 2.

MATERIALS: 112 Mille Bornes cards, score sheet

TYPE OF GAME: Strategy

AUDIENCE: 8+

INTRODUCTION TO MILLE BORNES

In France, there are small markers along the road called bornes kilometriques. They are milestones that denote mileage to the next town and their color show if the road is a highway or local street. This game is all about mileage. You must follow the rules of the road, collect mileage while avoiding hazards on the imaginary road, and attempt to slow your opponents down by creating hazards for them.

MATERIALS

Cards

Distance Cards. These have milestones on them, representing a distance of 25, 50, 75, 100, or 200 miles. They are totaled to determine the distance that was traveled.

Hazard Cards. There are 10 total Hazard cards. 3 flat tire, 3 out of gas, 3 accident, 4 speed limit, and 5 stop Hazard Cards.

Remedy Cards. There are 38 total Remedy cards. 6 Spare tire, 6 repair, 6 gas, 6 end of limit, and 14 roll cards.

Safety Cards. There are 4 total Safety cards. 1 Extra tank, 1 Driving ace, 1 Puncture proof, 1 Right of way.

There are 6 cards not used in play, those are the score cards and card guides.

Cards are related like this: Hazards > Remedies > Safeties.

Use remedy cards to overcome a hazard.

Where to Play Cards

SET-UP

• Sit across from your partner.
• Pick a dealer
• Remove the cards not used in play. The dealer shuffles and passes 6 cards, face-down and one at a time, to each player. The cards that remain from the draw pile.
• Look at your hand.
• The player to the left of the dealer starts first.

HOW TO PLAY THE CARDS

Hazard Cards

Stop, Out of Gas, Accident, Flat Tire

Play these on your opponent’s battle pile. You prevent your opponent from traveling further with these cards.

Speed Limit

Play these on your opponent’s speed pile. They are restricted to 25-mile or 50-mile distance cards.

Remedy Cards

Gas, Repair, Spare Tire

Play these on your battle pile in correspondence to the hazard card played. If you overcome the hazard, you can play a distance card.

Roll

Play these on a stop card that your opponent has played in opposition to you. After playing the remedy cards listed above, you must play a roll card to play more distance cards. The exception being the Right of Way card.

End of Limit

Play these on your speed pile, they go on top of a speed limit card. You may go at normal speed and play any kind of distance card.

Distance Cards

Distance cards can be played after a roll card is placed on the battle pile or when Right of Way is in your Area of Safety. You may combine distance cards to total 1000 miles, but you can only play two 200 miles cards at once.

Safety Cards

Right of Way, Puncture-Proof, Driving Ace, and Extra Tank

Play these cards in the Safety Area. You have a few advantages from this:

1. Overcome Hazard card played against you already.
2. Prevent Hazard cards for that hand.
3. You draw another card and complete your turn.

Right of way has several uses of it’s own.

1. Cancels out Hazards in play. Allows you to play 75, 100, and 200 mile distance cards despite the speed limit.
2. Your opponent can not play a stop card or speed limit card.
3. You can play distance cards without a revealed roll card.

Coup Fourré

Coup Fourré translates to counterthrust. This term describes counterattacks to an opponent. For example, if you have a safety card to respond to a Hazard card, immediately call, “coup fourré.” It does not have to be your turn to call it. This gives you the following advantages:

• Remove the Hazard card from the battle or speed pile.
• Take an additional turn.
• You have protection from a hazard card that corresponds to that safety card for the remainder of the hand.
• Earn a score of 100 basepointss for the safety card and 300 extra points for Coup Fourré, a total of 400 points.

PLAYING THE GAME

Turns have two parts: draw a card and either play a card or discard one. You always have 6 cards in hand.

1. Play a roll card face-up on the battle pile. Your turn finishes and play passes on to the opponent on your left.
2. If you have a safety catd in hand you can play it face-up in the Safety area. After playing one of these cards, take another turn. Draw another cards and play as usual. If you play another safety card, repeat.
3. Speed limit cards are played in front of your opponent, on their speed pile.
4. If you cannot play in the following ways, duscard a single card, face-up.

The second player has two additional possibilties in addition to the ones above. You can play a hazard card (on top of a roll card) or play an end of limit card (on top of a speed limit card).

ENDING HANDS

A hand can be ended in two ways: a team completes a single trip of exactly 1000 miles OR the draw pile is exhausted. In that case, after all cards have been played in hand the game finishes.

If you hit 1000 miles after the draw pile is empty this is called Delayed Action. If you are able to complete a trip in this manner you earn an extra 300 points.

WINNING

Games typically have several hands. Total each hand after they finish. The first player or team to reach or exceed 5000 points wins. If both teams hit 5000 points in the same hand the teams with the most points wins.

SCORING

Score as mant points as miles traveled ………….. X

Bonus for 1000 mile trip ……………………………….. 400

Bonus for safety card …………………………………… 100

All 4 Saftey Cards splayed by 1 team …………….. 300

Each Coup Fourré ……………………………………….. 300

Delayed Action ……………………………………………. 300

Safe Trip (complete trip without 200 mile cards) . 300

Shut Out (Complete trip before opponent ………. 500

plays a distance card)

REFERENCES:

https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/MilleBornes.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mille_Bornes

Mille Bornes (/ˌmɪlˈbɔːrn/; French for a thousand milestones, referring to the distance markers on many French roads) is a Frenchdesigner card game. Mille Bornes is listed in the GAMES Magazine Hall of Fame.

History[edit]

The game was created in 1954 by Edmond Dujardin,^[1] and is almost identical to the earlier American automotive card game Touring. One additional feature is the coup-fourré ('counter-thrust'), whereby bonus points are earned by holding back a safety card (such as the puncture-proof tire) until an opponent plays the corresponding hazard card (in this case, the flat tire).^[2]

There have been 26 known publishers of the game.^[3] Some Mille Bornes decks are printed in both English and French. The Spanish version Mil Hitos, distributed by Heraclio Fournier, was very popular in Spain during the 1970s.^{[citation needed]} In the Netherlands there is a variant of this game, Stap op, which deals with cycling instead of driving. The hazards and distances are different, but the mechanics of the game are exactly the same.

The current U.S. version, published by Asmodee, has purged all French language from the printed cards. The rules still include the 'Coup Fourré' however there is no background given to the 'counter thrust' translation.^[4]

Objective[edit]

The premise of Mille Bornes is that the players are in a road race. Each race—or hand—is 1000 miles (or kilometers) long. For two- or three-player games the goal is shortened to 700, with an option for the first player to complete that distance to declare an extension to 1000 miles. Mille Bornes is played with a special deck of cards. There are hazard,remedy,safety, and distance cards. Each hazard is corrected by a corresponding remedy, and can be prevented from happening in the first place by a corresponding safety. The target distance is reached by playing distance cards.

List of cards[edit]

• Hazards:

  Accident: 3

  Out of Gas: 3

  Flat Tire: 3

  Stop: 5

  Speed Limit: 4

• Remedies:

  Repairs: 6

  Gasoline: 6

  Spare Tire: 6

  Go/Roll/Drive: 14

  End of Speed Limit: 6

• Safeties:

  Driving Ace: 1

  Fuel Tank: 1

  Puncture Proof: 1

  Right of Way/Emergency Vehicle: 1

• Distance:

  25 Mile: 10

  50 Mile: 10

  75 Mile: 10

  100 Mile: 12

  200 Mile: 4

Also included in the deck are nonplayable cards that list the playable cards and summarize the scoring. In some decks, some of these are printed entirely in French.

Play[edit]

The deck is shuffled and six cards are dealt to each player; the remainder becomes a draw pile and a discard pile forms next to it. Each player's turn begins with a draw of one card and a play of one card, so that each player always holds six cards at the end of his turn.

Each player (or team) builds a tableau. The tableau is divided into battle, speed, distance, and safety areas; cards in the battle and speed areas are stacked so that only the top card shows. The example shows a typical tableau midway through a game.

Hazards and remedies (with the exception of Speed Limit and End of Limit) are played in the battle area, where a Roll card is shown in the example. Speed Limit and End of Limit cards are played separately in the speed area. Distance cards are played into separate stacks according to value; it is common to play the 200-mile cards distinctly, rather than fanned. Safety cards are played along the top of the tableau; note that the horizontal placement of the Extra Tank card in the example has a special significance.

A player may use a card in one of the following ways on his turn:

• A Roll card in his own battle area if it is empty or showing any remedy other than Roll.
• A distance card in his own distance area if a Roll card is showing in his battle area.
• A remedy on top of the corresponding hazard if one is showing in his battle area.
• An End of Limit on top of a Speed Limit if one is showing in his speed area.
• An Accident, Out of Gas, Flat Tire, or Stop hazard in his opponent's battle area if it is not empty.
• A Speed Limit hazard in his opponent's speed area if it is empty or showing an End of Limit. This is the only hazard that can be played against an opponent whose battle area is empty.
• A safety in his own safety area (at any time).

Once an Accident, Out of Gas, or Flat Tire hazard has been played, and the appropriate remedy card played to correct it, the player must next play a Roll card in order to get moving again. A hazard can be played onto an opponent's battle area even if another one is already showing, but only the topmost hazard needs to be corrected before that player can use a Roll card. Playing a Roll against a Stop hazard corrects it and allows the player to start moving; a second Roll is not needed.

Playing a safety corrects the corresponding hazard, if it is in effect against the player at the time, and also prevents opponents from using hazards of this type against the player for the remainder of the hand. However, when the safety is played normally, a Roll must still be played before any distance cards if the corresponding hazard is in effect. Whenever the safety is played, the same player draws another card immediately and plays again. It is possible to play consecutive safeties on one turn, each time drawing a card before playing again.

A player affected by a Speed Limit (as shown in the example) may only play 25 and 50 km cards. No more than two 200 km cards may be played by any player or team in a single hand.

Whenever a hazard is played, any player holding the corresponding safety may immediately play it and declare a coup-fourré. This may be done whether or not the player holding the safety was the one attacked by the hazard. The safety is laid down horizontally in the safety area, and the player draws a new card and takes his/her normal turn (draw and play/discard), skipping all players between the attacker and him/herself. In addition, if he/she was attacked with the hazard, it is moved to the discard pile.

The Right of Way card both remedies and protects against Stop and Speed Limit hazards. If a player uses this safety, he/she need not play a Roll card in order to get moving again; any Stop or Speed Limit cards showing in the battle/speed areas are moved to the discard pile. The player is still vulnerable to any hazard for which he/she has not yet played a safety; however, after remedying it, he/she can begin to play distance cards again without using a Roll card first.

If an uncorrected hazard is revealed in the battle area due to the Right of Way or a coup-fourré being played, and the corresponding safety is not in effect, the hazard must be corrected (and a Roll played, if necessary) in order to start moving again.

Players may always discard, even if they have a legal play available. A player who has no playable cards must discard. All discards are considered dead and may not be used or touched for the remainder of the hand.

Play continues until either:

• one player (or team) has played enough distance cards to exactly reach the target total, or
• all players have played or discarded all their cards.

Under no circumstances may a player or team play a distance card that causes them to exceed the target total.

Note that play continues after the draw pile is exhausted, each player playing or discarding one card per turn. Once every player runs out of cards in their hand with a depleted draw pile, play ends.

The target distance is 1000 km in a four-handed game with two partnerships, or 700 km in a two- or three-player game with each player acting individually. In the latter case, the first player to reach 700 km may either claim victory and end the hand immediately, or call for an Extension that increases the target to 1000 km.

Scoring[edit]

Scores are tallied at the end of the hand as follows:

In a 2-player game, the maximum score that can be made in one hand is 4,600 points. In a standard 4-player game there is no extension, so the maximum score is 4,400. In a 3-player or 6-player game, two shutout bonuses are achievable, yielding a perfect score of 5,100.

Note that some points are scored even if a side does not complete a trip; it is possible for the completing side to score fewer points than their opponents. If the hand ends by exhaustion rather than by completion, each side still scores its distance and safety points.

According to the printed rules distributed by Parker Brothers, a game continues until one or both sides reaches a cumulative point total of 5,000. If both sides go over 5,000 during the same hand, the higher point total wins the game.^[5] Note that it is possible for the game to end in a tie, in which case the rules are silent.

How To Play Horse Race Card Game

If the game is played for money, then generally the point difference is paid from the loser to the winner, and every point is significant.

With larger or smaller groups[edit]

2, 3, 4 or 6 Player play is possible with slight rule modifications and where in the case of the 4 or 6 player versions, players team up into teams of two each. For detailed play see Wikibooks article.

Card images[edit]

• Hazard cards

• Accident

• Out of gas

• Flat tire

• Speed limit

• Stop

• Remedy cards

• Repairs

• Gasoline

• Spare tire

• End of limit

• Roll

• Safety cards

• Driving ace

• Extra tank

• Puncture proof

• Right-of-way

• Distance cards

• 25 km

• 50km

• 75 km

• 100 km

• 200 km

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Carlisle, Rodney P. (2009). Encyclopedia of Play in Today's Society. Sage Publications. p. xxxviii. ISBN978-1-4129-6670-2.
2. ^Roche, William Janson (17 May 2011). 'History of 'take that!' style dedicated-deck card games'. A Spotlight on Games. Retrieved 2017-05-08.
3. ^'Mille Bornes'. Board Game Geek. BoardGameGeek, LLC. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
4. ^'MIlle Bournes Rules'(PDF). Asmodee USA. Asmodee. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
5. ^citation needed

External links[edit]

Card Games To Play At Home

• Mille Bournes at SourceFiles.org game description, rules, and strategy notes (archived)
• Milestone on irc.globalgamers.net, Milestone on Internet Relay Chat.
• Mille Bornes at ExpressShare.com Freeware Mille Bornes for Windows by Bill Sanders
• Notes and pictures of the distinctive deck artwork by Joseph Le Callennec and other versions

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